Posts Tagged ‘Social media and small business’

Happy Halloween to all who celebrate and I know there will be a lot of Facebook Livestreaming happening tonight, which make’s today’s blog post very timely. This is actually the second part of last week’s blog post, Social Media and Videos in which I discussed YouTube on my Podcast Social Media Sunday with the Delaware Blogger.

What is Facebook live?

Facebook Live lets you connect with your fans, friends and followers by sharing real-time video of what you’re seeing and doing. Earlier I mentioned Periscope which is the live broadcast app on Twitter which was and perhaps still is very popular, but I prefer Facebook Livestream because of the countdown option and for some strange reason makes me less nervous.

In my first Podcast I talked about the difference between Facebook and Twitter and how the Facebook friends are like the friends you had in High School and Twitter is like the friends you wished you had in high school. Maybe that’s why Twitter makes me nervous, it’s broadcasting to friends that I wish I had in High school…weird right?

Facebook Livestreaming can be seen live by people who follow you but if they missed it live it will appear in their News Feed and on your timeline. When you’re watching a live video or a video that was live, you can tap or click Subscribe to get notified the next time that Facebook account starts a live broadcast. So tell your followers to subscribe if they are watching to keep them in the loop.

Setting up a Facebook Live video is pretty easy – from your FB page click the ‘’LIVE” icon and then describe your live video – you can use letters, symbols or emojis which is your title and what other’s will read in the News Feed

You can choose who you want to view it “Friends, “Public” or a specific “Facebook Group” then press “Go Live” you get a 3 second countdown and you can video face forwarding or turn camera around to video your surroundings.

Tips for Facebook Livestreaming from Social Media Examiner

While people are watching you, invite those viewers to tap the Subscribe button. This way, they’ll get notified the next time you’re live. After you end your live broadcast, it will be saved on your timeline like any other video you upload.

Have a focus for your broadcast. Know what you plan to talk about ahead of time so you don’t have a rambling on about nothing unless that’s what the video is about. Knowing what you plan to talk about and doing it well will do wonders for your reputation.

Create a compelling title. It goes without saying that you should relate the title to the focus of your broadcast. When people get a notification that you’re live, the title is the only thing they see when deciding whether they want to join you.

Strive for great audio. Speak loudly and clearly close to the phone or use a microphone. Like with any video, your audience needs to be able to hear what you have to say. To this end, avoid broadcasting anywhere that has a lot of background noise.

Use both the front and back cameras. Since you likely won’t want to have the camera in your face the whole time, you can easily toggle back and forth between the two. When the camera faces you, the audio is better. Speak up when filming away from yourself.

Acknowledge your audience. When you go live, be sure to mention your friends and fans who are viewing, if it seems reasonable. Alternatively or in addition, respond to comments either during or after the show. – I don’t always wear my glasses that I am not great at doing this.

Test different broadcast length and times. Facebook recommends you go live for at least 5 minutes. Anything from 2 to 20 minutes is just fine. See what your audience likes and use that as your gauge. Also try going live at different times to see when most of your audience is around.

End with a call to action. Live video can be an integral part of your social media marketing, so make the most of it by directing your audience to a specific place. Include a simple call to action at the end of your video, such as to visit your website or private message you for more information on the topic.

Repurpose Your Video – As with other content, you’ll want to use your video in as many places as relevant. Write a blog post with some of the highlights and embed either the Facebook post itself or just the video. Then share it on all of your social media profiles.

5 Ways to Use Facebook Live for your Business

Behind the scenes. Come up with “adventures” that would be of interest to your friends and followers. If you could take a group of friends with you somewhere, where would that be? It could be somewhere you go during downtime (to the beach or a concert) or else directly related to business.

Find something fun and relevant for your friends and followers to know about and take them there. For example, if you sell surfing gear, a day at the beach would be right on target, the same as a concert would be if you work in the music industry.

Q&As. Pick a day and time and let your friends and followers know you’ll be on live to answer their questions. Do this monthly, weekly or regularly, when you you’re getting lots of inquiries.

To get even more out of it, plan ahead. Create an event and encourage people to ask questions in advance, so you know what to address in your live stream. This will give you tremendous material for future content.

You can write blog posts or video tutorials as answers to your questions, too. Q&As are also excellent for market research.

Create How-To Videos: . Find something that pertains to your expertise and relates to your business, but is also personal. Then show your audience how to do it with simple steps.

Use a tripod and point your Android or iPhone camera at you or even at your computer screen, and explain how to do something as you do it.

Product demos. Just like with how-tos, do live product demos for your friends and followers. Unbox products that you use for your business or simply share how you use them. Alternatively, show new uses for your own products. As with all video, you want to be having fun as you do demos, so your audience has fun too.

Breaking news. Compile sources that inform you when there’s breaking news in your industry. Then when something happens within your area of expertise, you can go live immediately and share it with your audience.

Report news and also add your own thoughts and opinions, so people know what to do with that information. Doing videos like these helps you establish your expertise. Remember, journalists, other influencers and potential clients could be watching. Tremendous opportunities may be waiting for you.

Video streaming, especially through Facebook Live, is an incredible opportunity to showcase your knowledge and increase your fan, follower and customer bases. Since video is super-strong right now and Facebook Live seems to get higher organic reach than other types of content, it’s definitely worth getting ready to add Live to your marketing plan just as soon as you have access.

Are you using Facebook Live for your business and if so, do you have any tips to share?

Monday’s blog posts will be recaps of Sunday’s Podcasts, which if you haven’t started following yet, can be found on Blog Talk Radio. Social Media Sunday with the Delaware Blogger – AAU Teen Talk Radio is on every Sunday at 6 p.m.

On October 2nd, my special guest was Nikki Valentine and we talked about the re-launching of her business N.V.Me Designs, click this link to hear the interview.

If you are a small business owner who is just starting out and are looking for ways in which to get customers inside your doors if you are brick and mortar or go online to buy a product or service, you do realize that you must have a presence on social media right?

Current and potential customers are literally walking around with your business in their hands. A few weeks ago, I attended a networking event at the Chase Center on the Riverfront, and everyone there had at least one social media platform in which to connect, most if not all had a Facebook business account which is what we talked about on the Podcast.

Social Media is a numbers game, however, it’s not how many you get, but how many you keep and how many of them take action.

FACEBOOK AND SMALL BUSINESS

Facebook now has 4 million advertisers and it’s being powered by more small businesses trying to reach customers, particularly on their mobile devices.

People are spending more time on their phones, more engagement on their phones, doing more things on their phones, because phones can do more. I remember the brick my hubby gave me as an engagement gift, it weighed about 10 lbs and it was attached to the car, then came the bag phone but all it could do was make and receive calls.

Now mobile phones can do practically anything, conduct searches, give map directions, promote sales, take pictures and record live video. Businesses are beginning to understand that they need to be where people are, and that’s on their mobile device.

Setting up a Facebook Business Page is easy but you must have a personal page first, and there are many sites with instructions , I also have a Slideshare presentation that you can download. Leave a comment below if you would like me to email you a copy

Facebook is where you can virtually hang out with your family and friends but more importantly with your customers and/or potential clients and customers. Facebook is for entertainment so remember the 80/20 rule and don’t post “buy me” posts constantly.

Share content from others in the same niche or industry and remember that what you share is perceived to be what you believe so be very careful when posting because using a “like or share is not an endorsement” disclaimer doesn’t hold water – just don’t post it.

Be Mobile Ready – Facebook is already built to be mobile friendly, so take advantage of it. Facebook page on a mobile device it shows users:

Check in on Your Competition! – Facebook makes suggestions based on competition in my area in my same (or a similar) niche. Choose pages by clicking “Watch Page” or search for pages in the search box.

TWITTER AND SMALL BUSINESS

I have said it before and I’ll say it again, Twitter is by far my favorite social media platform. Why – well for one, it’s quick, it’s happening right now in real time and I love hashtags.

I liken FB to the friends you had in high school and Twitter are the friends you wish you had in high school. It’s where the cool kids hang out and if you ever been retweeted, liked or followed by a celeb then you know how exciting that can be!

Hashtags are the best thing since slice bread!

Tweet that!

Twitter will display all other tweets with that hashtag – great way to search or find potential customers or topics to follow and share – great way to get your message and content out there.

“I don’t get Twitter” is a common statement among small business owners. With more than 316 million active monthly users engaging in instant conversations, the social platform shouldn’t be ignored. The main difference of Facebook and Twitter is on Twitter, following someone is not necessarily an admission of friendship, but an interaction and conversation in 140 characters or less.

If you already have a personal Twitter account and have been using it for your business, you may want to create a separate business account so that any personal information is not passed onto your business followers. – But remember that your brand is your brand not matter where it’s coming from.

Be as visible as possible, put on your Twitter handle on business cards, email address, flyers, etc. Tweet only business info and not personal tweets on your business account.

Twitter is a great way to connect with your targeted audience and for your targeted audience to connect with you in real time – for example, two weeks ago I had to rebook a flight on a non-refundable ticket with Delta airlines and the customer service representative was amazing! After I handled my business, I immediately posted my satisfaction to Delta Airlines and they immediately responded.

Now small business owners don’t have the luxury of being online constantly like the bigger brands, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t check in first thing in the morning or right before going to bed in the evening to see if your brand or business was mentioned.

Speaking of which you can open an account at www.mention.com where you will enter the name of your business and then be alerted anytime someone mentions it it’s a social media monitoring and listening app that keeps you in the know.

Twitter is great for PR and networking, especially for event coverage and promotion. Using a hashtag for an event and then getting attendees to tweet about using the hashtag gives you wider exposure.

Although you can’t own a hashtag you can register it for the event so that people can follow along at www.Twubs.com. And if your hashtag is unique and you use it enough it becomes part of you and your business brand, i.e. #DelawareBlogger if you Google that you will find me all over the internet.

Businesses should have a Twitter account for several reasons:

Consumers are frustrated with call centers – Oftentimes, individuals will go on Twitter after they’ve already sought a solution by calling the company’s helpline.

Instant gratification – Twitter allows customers to feel more in control of the timeliness of the solution. They can immediately go online, research a solution to try helping themselves or vent their problem in real-time, asking for help, whether from the brand or other customers.

Airing dissatisfaction publicly is part of a solution – Some people just want to be heard, good, bad and ugly, and sharing on Twitter gives them gratification. Some people like to tweet, tweet, tweet like a duck at 3 o’clock in the morning!

Hashtags allow you to Search for Terms Related to Your Biz – finding customers where they hang out and with whom – always check the followers of your followers and follow them if they are relevant.

1. Follow industry leaders.

First, find your industry leaders on Twitter and follow them, all of them. These people are vital to building the right follower base.

2. Follow authors who write about your industry.

You probably have a few favorite industry experts whose books you’ve read. Follow them on Twitter, but also follow all of the industry experts who’ve written books in your field. If you don’t know who these authors are, go to Amazon and search out books in your industry. Find the author’s names and follow them on Twitter.

3. Follow other authors.

Who writes the articles in the magazines and trade publications on your industry? Find out who these people are and follow them on Twitter. When I became active on Twitter, I followed every author I could find who wrote about entrepreneurship. While not everyone has a Twitter account, I found that 9 out of 10 authors and writers do.

4. Know your target audience.

Like you need to know your customers, you need to know your audience. You can have 1,000 followers who will never turn into customers, or you can have 100 quality followers who will either convert to customers, refer customers, or add value by sharing quality, relevant content. It’s important that your Twitter followers have something to gain by following you and vice versa.

5. Follow your industry hashtags.

Twitter has this great tool where you type in a hashtag in the search bar, such as #smallbusiness, and instantly a feed pops up with relevant posts and articles. It’s important that you monitor your industry hashtags so you stay current on industry trends and technology. You also use these hashtags when you Retweet and share posts. When you use the appropriate hashtag, you ensure that your post is “seen” by your target audience. Go on Twitter and play with the hashtags in your industry until you know which ones apply to your business.

6. Share quality content.

Twitter is all about adding VALUE; it’s not the place to oversell products and services. Read articles about your industry trends and share them on Twitter daily. Not only will you be learning, you’ll provide value to your target audience.

7. Tweet about industry events.

Stay on top of industry events and Tweet about them, whether it’s a local tradeshow or a national convention. In your Tweet, include the event’s hashtags and a link to the website so people can click on the link themselves.

8. Be engaging.

Twitter is not a spectator sport. Actively participate, comment and like others’ posts and Retweet (share) them daily. Twitter is all about building relationships and ADDING VALUE. One great way to add value is to write and share informative blogs, and of course, include your industry hashtags when posting so your audience will be able to find and read your content.

9. Post daily and repeat.

For your small business to succeed on Twitter, you have to post daily. Post at least 3 to 5 Tweets per day with several Retweets, which is similar to the “sharing” feature on Facebook. If your followers see that you haven’t been active in a month, they’re likely to “unfollow” you. Use images as they get retweeted far more than just text

10. Don’t go off topic.

Your Twitter page should be relevant to your business, it should not discuss anything controversial, such as politics, and it should not go off topic. Keep the posts relevant to your niche market.

Most importantly – Engage the Influencers in Your Niche – as you know, bloggers are on Twitter and we love to retweet and share – sharing is caring and we are also looking to connect with businesses for collaborations and brand ambassadorships. We retweet each other’s posts and would do the same with yours so connect with us on Twitter.

I have a chart that I found online that is a great reference tool which I will send to anyone who may be interested in receiving. It lists all the popular social media platforms as well as the audience and demographics who uses them – a handy little cheat sheet so if you would like a copy, please leave a comment and I’ll send it in an email.

Do you have any Facebook or Twitter tips to share? Don’t forget to check out my Podcasts which are on Sunday at 6 on Blog Talk Radio, AAU Teen Talk Radio.